R500 - sequential or not???

[Clarkable]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new round here and have been looking for a Caterham forum.

I'm currently thinking of buying an R500, primarily for track days but also for the odd cross country blast.

I was starting to think of spec and was after some opinions/experiences of the sequential gearbox and the race dampers.

I've also started thinking that it might make more sense to buy a used one (Duratec), maybe a year or two old, if I'm just going to spank it round a track. Thoughts?

Thanks,
Matt

[CatMatt7]

For track use I would go for a sequential, for road use, I wouldn't. They are noisy and harder to live with on the road.

You may find that an R500 is a little too fast to properly enjoy on the road, too easy to get to license losing speeds / can't enjoy full throttle for long. Also a track set up isn't great for road use and vice versa.

I have ended up only using mine on the track.

Take a look at Blatchat for more info or pop along to a local area meeting, I am sure there will be plenty of owners more than happy to share their opinions with you :-)

Matt

[downsman]

The R400 will be more driveable and just as quick 95% of the time, and should be more reliable too

If you aren't too worried about lap times, a manual gearbox would be more fun on the track and much nicer on the road in my opinion.

[BertBert]

Of course, it's completely a matter of personal taste. I've hated driving a sequential caterham on the road. The main reason being that a sequential box works best when you are flat out. There's very little opportunity to do that on the road in an R500 without dying!

On the track, I suspect it's quite good fun!

Best to go and test drive one on the road.

BErt

[Clarkable]

Thanks for the comments guys

The car would primarily be used for track days because because I love them and to continue to develop my driving. As it's not against the clock, why would I need a sequential other than it being a nice toy. I also wonder if the novelty would wear off. By not ticking that option, it saves me a nice chunk of money too.

Agreed, best thing would to try both.

I orignally was looking at an R400, but then when I spec'd it up, it was effectively an R500 with the lower powered engine and cost almost as much as an R500 so I thought I might as well get the R500.

Anyone have experience of what Caterham calls 'race dampers'? Is it better to go aftermarket?

Thanks again

[Hiraga]

I own a C400 means race dumpers and seq box.
In my opinion, race dumpers are fine on road if you remove the rear roll bar (with the rear roll bar it it's bumpy), it takes 3 minutes to remove.
The seq box is very nice on track, noisy on road and the cluch is very hard, so not very smooth on trafic.
Depending of how you drive, you'll already blow away everything with a R400. On track you'll fill a bit frustrated with a R500 as you won't have more than 2 or 3 full clean lap per day. At least it's my case with the C400.

[2slo]

Before buying my manual R400 I tried a similar car in comparison with a seq R500. For road use I quite agree with what others are saying the manual car is the better choice. I found the seq noisy and less smooth to drive (might have been partly me there, didn't do many miles) Also the torquey delivery of the R400 makes it, again IMHO, a better choice for mostly road use.

[mattmurdock]

My car has both the sequential box and the race dampers, and to be honest I wouldn't be without either of them.

The box just adds hugely to the sense of occasion, and whilst it can be a little clunky at low speeds, when you are pressing on on the track it is fantastic. And yes it is noisy, but again on track you don't notice, and on the road I have an intercom system.

As for the dampers, I tried cars back to back with and without and with the right setup there is no really noticeable difference in ride quality at road speeds, and on the track again they are much better than the standard dampers.

However, everyone's tastes and tolerances differ, so definitely try all the combos if you can, and if you are ever near Bristol you are welcome to a run out in mine